


afraid

by actualcactus



Category: Be More Chill - Iconis/Tracz
Genre: M/M, Michael Mell - Freeform, Panic Attack, fears?, jeremiah heere is an angel, mikey - Freeform, my baby boy, vent fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-06
Updated: 2017-11-06
Packaged: 2019-01-30 11:24:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,426
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12652593
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/actualcactus/pseuds/actualcactus
Summary: Jeremy Heere was afraid of a lot of things. Spiders, the ocean, big dogs, thunder- the list could go on for a long time. And Jeremy knew this and a lot of other people knew this. That was- well, mostly okay. It was only not okay when Rich insisted he was going to help him overcome his fear of the ocean by chucking him straight into it.But, on the other hand, Jeremy realized he couldn’t really think of anything Michael was afraid of. He knew he had been afraid of snakes until he was 8, when his older brother had him hold a small one in their backyard and Michael realized it wasn’t too dangerous. He knew that Michael was weak when he saw blood but he wasn’t really afraid of it. He just heavily disliked it. As far as anyone knew, Michael’s worst fear was never getting past the Cafetorium in Apocalypse of the Damned.





	afraid

Jeremy Heere was afraid of a lot of things. Spiders, the ocean, big dogs, thunder- the list could go on for a long time. And Jeremy knew this and a lot of other people knew this. That was- well, mostly okay. It was only not okay when Rich insisted he was going to help him overcome his fear of the ocean by chucking him straight _into_ it.

But, on the other hand, Jeremy realized he couldn’t really think of anything Michael was afraid of. He knew he had been afraid of snakes until he was 8, when his older brother had him hold a small one in their backyard and Michael realized it wasn’t too dangerous. He knew that Michael was weak when he saw blood but he wasn’t really _afraid_ of it. He just heavily disliked it. As far as anyone knew, Michael’s worst fear was never getting past the Cafetorium in Apocalypse of the Damned.

So when they were all over at Christine’s house he didn’t really pay much attention to the slightly panicked look that flickered across Michael’s face when Rich said they should go hunt for cryptids in the woods behind her house.

“Yeah!” Jake exclaimed loudly, jumping to his feet and looking over toward the window that Rich had his nose pressed up against. He gestured dramatically to it, “late at night, the best time to find cryptids.”

“I dunno,” Michael said, his tone casual as he looked between Jake and Rich on the floor. Jeremy looked over at him, though, confused. Michael loved doing cheesy things like this. “Will your parents get mad if we leave the house this late at night?”

They were all currently camped out in Christine’s livingroom, having sworn to at least to be quiet so they didn’t wake up her sister or parents. The dark haired girl shrugged, though. “I can leave a note just in case they wake up, but they won’t care.”

Michael shifted and made a small noise, but before he could say anything else Rich was sliding across the floor in his socks and jumping onto Jake’s back. The taller boy cried out in surprise but managed to grab Rich without falling, only stumbling a little. He straightened out after a moment and grinned, “c’mon Mikey!” Brooke said, pushing herself to her feet and padding over to the door to grab her shoes. Chloe was following behind her. “It’ll be fun!”

“Yeah… fun…”

Now, looking back on it, Jeremy realized he should have done something. He had realized that something was off but he didn’t comment on it. Instead, he pushed himself to his feet and held out a hand to Michael, who took it gratefully and pulled himself to his feet. Jeremy smiled at him and Michael smiled back, and Jeremy took that as it was fine. Oh well.

The brunette trotted over toward the door where everyone else was pulling their shoes on (except Rich) and sat down again, pulling on his converse and tying them deftly. Michael only had to pop his feet into his sneakers and then he was standing awkwardly, fiddling with the strings of his hoodie. Jeremy pushed himself to his feet just as Jake threw the door open and charged out of it, Rich’s whooping probably loud enough to wake up the whole neighborhood. Jenna followed after them with a roll of her eyes, pocketing her phone. The rest of the girls trailed after and Jeremy started after them, only pausing to make sure Michael was coming.

But he was standing in the doorway, brown eyes flickering back and forth across the darkened scenery around them. His expression was- different- then anything Jeremy had ever seen before. He’s probably spacing out. “Michael! You coming?!” He called from his spot on the lawn, Chloe turning her head to look back at them. The Filipino boy apparently snapped out of it with a jump, before nodding hurriedly and closing the door behind him with a click.

Michael was quick to catch up to the rest of the group, lingering close to Jeremy as they started walking through the woods. Rich and Jake were still at the head of the group, basically sprinting through the forest with Rich yelling random things about seeing Mothman or some other things he made up. The rest of them followed in a gaggle, their shoes becoming damp with dew.

Personally, Jeremy thought this was nice. It was peaceful in the forest at night. He heard an owl hoot from a little ways away the the rattling of branches as something moved above their heads in the trees. It was all very- serendipitous. He ended up chatting with Christine, pulling ahead to the front of the group and chatting with her about the current play they were putting on. They really needed to step up their game if they wanted everything done by the set show date.

He only looked back once when he heard Chloe hesitantly call his name, turning his head to meet her worried gaze. “Uh, yeah?” He asked stupidly. She was walking on one side of Michael, who had his head down and his hood up. The brunette also had his hands shoved in his pockets. Again, Jeremy really should have been able to tell something was up without the girls’ assistance. Figuring that Brooke, who was walking to his other side, had her hand resting on his arm and she was talking too quietly for him to hear even in the silence of the dark forest.

Chloe seemed to think so too, as the brunette girl gave him a flat look. Christine looked over in their direction too and Jenna paused where she was walking with a far-off expression to glance over her shoulder at the trio, too. “Oh my _God_ , Michael are you okay?” Christine babbled after a moment, and Jeremy blinked. Michael? What was wrong with Michael.

Now he took a moment to actually look at his friend. And wow were the signs obvious now that someone blatantly pointed out that something was wrong. The boy had his hood up, something he usually only did when he was overwhelmed, and with his head ducked Jeremy couldn’t see his face. He was also shaking, something he brushed off due to the chilliness in the air. He immediately fell back.

Christine shouted something to Rich and Jake ahead but he found himself unable to pay attention to her anymore as he motioned for them to stop walking. Chloe put a gentle hand on his shoulder to halt him and Michael’s head flew up, looking panicked. As soon as his gaze landed on Chloe’s hand, though, he seemed to calm down a bit. And then he looked over at Jeremy who was quickly making his way over to Michael.

“Hey, Mikey-” He said, his voice soft as he slowed down his gait. Michael’s entire facade seemed to melt with his words as his legs seemed to give way. The brunette started trembling, and Jeremy made a noise of concern. “Can I touch you?” He asked quietly, and there was a beat where Michael didn’t respond. Then he nodded.

Jeremy took another step forward and wrapped his arms around Michael’s chest. He reacted immediately, his arms coming around Jeremy and fisting his shirt. He shoved his head into Jeremy’s shoulder and a soft sob escaped from him. “Hey, Michael, breathe with me.”

He took a deep breath and waited for Michael to copy him, then exhaled. He continued to do this, waiting until he was satisfied with Michael’s breathing patterns. He was vaguely aware that the rest of the group were waiting around them, Rich and Jake having come back par Christine’s request.

“It’s so dark Jer-” Jeremy stiffened but he forced himself to relax again. That definitely wouldn’t help anything. “It’s- I don’t- _something_ is probably in _there_!” Michael’s voice broke, and Jeremy started rubbing circles into his back. Then it hit him. It was the dark. Michael was afraid of the dark.

“Hey, it’s okay. We can go back now. Jenna can put the flashlight up on her phone and we can go back to the house, okay?” Michael nodded against his shoulder and Jeremy deemed it safe to pull away.

He looked over at the other people, all of them looking immensely worried. He shot them a reassuring smile before turning back to Michael. He took his hand and laced his fingers through Michael’s, giving him the same reassuring smile he gave the others. 

“It’s okay.”


End file.
